Comfort and Complancency

Ten years ago when I was a management consultant, I remember sitting in an airport waiting area and seeing a sign for a major hotel chain with a picture of a young child lying peacefully with her head leaning against her golden retriever with the tagline "When you're comfortable, you can do anything." The premise - an effective one because it's always stuck with me through the years - was that being comfortable and at ease enabled you to perform at your optimum level. Or to contextualize it to the ad, staying at this particular hotel put you at rest and ease so you could give killer presentations to clients and 'wow' the heck out of your engagement partners.

I can see how this axiom has played true in many aspects of my life. Professionally, I've been in situations where I have an extremely comfortable relationship with my boss. It's not that the job isn't demanding, but I have a clear understanding of his or her communication-style and we have this Joe Montana to Jerry Rice-like connection where I almost know what my boss needs before he or she does. The boss doesn't micromanage me because I hit all the right notes, and I'm thus given the flexibility to do what I need to do on my own terms and my own time. It's a very comfortable situation, because the job itself becomes very comfortable. I reach a point where I master the requirements of the position and the expectations of my boss, and I find myself energized and excelling.

In many ways, it's about reaching a certain equilibrium. Even relationally, you can find a comfort zone where you're devoting your limited time to family and friends at a measure where these people and you are spending neither too much or too little time with each other. Your friendships are comfortable and for the most part without conflict or strife. You've reached stability in relationships with people with whom you have little conflict where engagement is emotionally uplifting and energizing as opposed to emotionally draining. Some would equate this to Mr. Miyagi's concept of "balance". And when you have relational balance and comfort, life is feeling pretty good and you may find yourself being even a better parent, spouse and friend.

On the flip side, some people would argue that comfort - leading the complacency - is the place where you don't want to be. This wisdom would contend that you need to stretch yourself and put yourself in "crucible" situations where you will possibly, even very likely, fail. It is in these failures which the greatest personal growth occurs and you're forced to unlock skills formerly untouched and unused. In a spiritual life sense, the comfort zone of complacency almost inevitably leads to the illusion of self-sufficiency, and the heart begins to wonder, "Who needs God? Who needs prayer?"

I suppose that's the challenge. How can one find themselves comfortable without being complacent? Perhaps it lies in the basis of the comfort. For example, if I really am living according to a Christian worldview, my comfort - or perhaps the better word to use would be 'security' - would not be a product of my good circumstances which may waver good and bad, but rather a result of living in the shadow and providence of a sovereign and loving God. This makes all the difference. If I really believe that my God is sovereign, it would stand to reason that this would free me to take chances that I otherwise would not take and to live with a freedom unencumbered by fear of failure.

I am left believing that there is nothing wrong with comfort per se. I should express my thanksgiving for what I have and for circumstances that are favorable. But more importantly, the onus is still upon me to ensure that I don't cling onto those peripheral circumstances which give me comfort, but to live a life which is enveloped in the security of the Gospel - thus giving me freedom to live with abandon to stretch myself in the ways which God has called me to, and to move forward in places relationally and spiritually (and even professionally) I haven't gone before.